Teams replacing Skype for Business

Microsoft has announced that Skype for Business Online will be retired on 31 July 2021. Current customers with Office 365 subscriptions will be able to continue to use the service but from 1 September 2019, all new Office 365 customers are being directed to Teams.

Microsoft is developing Teams with more and more features, replacing and enhancing the functionality of Skype for Business. It's clear that the Teams platform is proving very popular with customers around the world and Microsoft is investing heavily in developing this platform.

In addition to online meetings and instant messaging, Teams includes sophisticated call management features that brings together an advanced telephone system and powerful Office tools in one easy-to-use application to manage all business communications.

Teams is a fully-featured phone system

Teams can replace your phone system and offers call routing, call parking and call groups. Calls to your DDI (direct dial) can be routed to your mobile when you are out of the office and is easily implemented with an app on your phone, similar to setting out-of-office on your email. You can work anywhere in the world and make and recieve calls as if you're calling from your local office.

Group Pickup enables users to pick up calls ringing in their set group, while Response Group routes calls to specific departments or groups based on the caller's keypad selection or voice prompts.

Teams also provides full conference calling capabilities allowing you to work closely with colleagues and customers.

Download our Teams white paper

To find out more about Microsoft Teams and how it can improve your office communications, you can download our Teams Whitepaper.